Volunteers fill an important function in the social work that constantly and in various ways
goes on in our society. Without the volunteers' involvement there is a risk that many more
people fall between the cracks than actually do, even in the Swedish welfare state. Since
volunteers are people whose resources are finite, it is important to gain insight into what
motivates, encourages and even determine their involvement. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the underlying factors that are important for the volunteers' motivation for
involvement within non-profit organizations focusing on social work. Having knowledge of
these underlying factors, there is an opportunity that the non-profit organizations recognize
the... (More)

Volunteers fill an important function in the social work that constantly and in various ways
goes on in our society. Without the volunteers' involvement there is a risk that many more
people fall between the cracks than actually do, even in the Swedish welfare state. Since
volunteers are people whose resources are finite, it is important to gain insight into what
motivates, encourages and even determine their involvement. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the underlying factors that are important for the volunteers' motivation for
involvement within non-profit organizations focusing on social work. Having knowledge of
these underlying factors, there is an opportunity that the non-profit organizations recognize
the importance of understanding volunteers' motives and hence work more effectively to
promote these.
Using qualitative methods, the study sought answers to these questions, and among other
things, concluded that people are driven by many different motives for their involvement, but
it is ultimately about a quest to realize oneself. This fact may sound selfish but is really just
about the obvious - in order to help others one must first help oneself. (Less)

@misc{8886228,
abstract = {Volunteers fill an important function in the social work that constantly and in various ways
goes on in our society. Without the volunteers' involvement there is a risk that many more
people fall between the cracks than actually do, even in the Swedish welfare state. Since
volunteers are people whose resources are finite, it is important to gain insight into what
motivates, encourages and even determine their involvement. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the underlying factors that are important for the volunteers' motivation for
involvement within non-profit organizations focusing on social work. Having knowledge of
these underlying factors, there is an opportunity that the non-profit organizations recognize
the importance of understanding volunteers' motives and hence work more effectively to
promote these.
Using qualitative methods, the study sought answers to these questions, and among other
things, concluded that people are driven by many different motives for their involvement, but
it is ultimately about a quest to realize oneself. This fact may sound selfish but is really just
about the obvious - in order to help others one must first help oneself.},
author = {Medin, Sara},
keyword = {non-profit sector,volunteering,volunteer,motif,social work,Maslow},
language = {swe},
note = {Student Paper},
title = {Jag sticker inte under stol med att jag behöver få ut något av det själv. En kvalitativ studie om motivens betydelse för volontärers engagemang i frivilligt socialt arbete.},
year = {2016},
}